Going home
by Assassin's Creed Master
Summary: What if Beth never tried to stab Dawn and simple left with her friends? After exchanging hostages with one another, Beth finally has the chance to leave this hospital and be reunited with the group and her half-sister.


**Going home**

**Warning, if you have not watched The Walking Dead, this story contains spoilers.**

**Hey everyone, Assassin's Creed Master here. I watched the mid-season finale of season 5 and was really surprised when Beth was shot, honestly, I never expected that to happen. But whilst I was thinking, I decided to write this quick one-shot of how I think it would have played out if Beth never tried to stab Dawn. Enjoy.**

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><p>"Glad we could work things out." Dawn said after she traded Beth away for one of her own fellow officers.<p>

"Yeah." Rick agreed, turning around and proceeding to leave the hospital with his people. He would not deny that he thought this exchange would be a lot worse than it turned out to be, but he was grateful nevertheless that they could work things out peacefully.

With Beth back into their group, Rick and his people proceeded to leave, but stopped when Dawn spoke up.

"Now I just need Noah." Dawn requested, her request caused the others to freeze in their steps. "And then you can leave."

Rick turned around and marched towards Dawn, refusing her request. He only knew Noah for a short time, but he was not willing to hand him over to these people who claimed to help people. "That wasn't part of the deal.

"Noah was my ward." Dawn explained. "Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back. Shepherd!" she raised her voice when one of her officers tried to speak up, but she fell silent in a matter of seconds. "My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died."

Daryl joined in to help defend Noah, despite him trying to steal from them not to long ago. He placed his hand against Noah for a second when he tried to step forward. "No, he ain't staying."

"He's one of mine. You have no claim on him." Dawn told them.

"The boy wants to go home, so you have no claim on him." Rick clashed in a defensive tone.

"Well, then we don't have a deal." Dawn responded in an attempt to change their minds, but obviously, she had no idea whom she and her officers were messing with.

"The deal is done." Rick shot back in a quick tone.

"It's okay." Noah spoke up as he limped towards Rick, his ankle in pain due to his previous accident. He did not want anyone else to die and had to step forward if it meant ending this conflict.

"No. No." Rick refused, but Noah stepped forward and prepared to give himself in.

Noah took out a pistol from his the back of his pants that was given to him by Rick and offered it back to him. "I got to do it."

"It's not okay." Beth added in a low tone as Rick accepted the pistol back. Noah was her friend, he had taken the blame for her when that patient died and took a beating for her. Despite helping him escape, she did not want to leave him with these people after she had witnessed what they would be capable of.

"It's settled." Dawn agreed.

"Wait!" Beth called out and quickly ran towards Noah, embracing him a hug. This was more than likely the last time they were going to see each other.

"It's okay." Noah assured.

"I knew you'd be back." Dawn told Beth, causing the younger girl to open her eyes and glare towards her with hatred in her eyes.

Slowly, Beth released Noah from their hug and waited until he was out of the way before she stood only a foot away from Dawn. "I get it now." Beth told Dawn in a normal tone. Apart of herself wanted to pull out those pair of scissors she hid under her cast just in case things went wrong and stabbed Dawn directly in her shoulder, but what could would that do? Not only would she risk killing herself, but she would risk both groups shooting towards each other that would result in heavy casualties.

"I'm not like you." Beth told Dawn in a serious tone. Stabbing Dawn here would only make her no different than the officers who picked in the weak and fearful like Gorman and O'Donnell.

With that said and done, Rick walked forward and placed his hand upon Beth, escorting her towards the exit of the hospital with the rest of the group. It was time to go home now before these officers turned out to be people who were not so gift-giving.

When the small portion of their group was outside, they did not expect to see Glenn, Maggie, Abraham, Rosita, Tara, Michonne and Father Gabriel approaching them from the opposite side with the fire truck parked nearby. Wasn't they supposed to be in Washington?

After slaying down a couple of walkers, Beth emerged from behind Tyreese whom was supporting Carol due to her accident and smiled widely to see her older half-sister alive and well. Maggie looked more shocked than happy, but nevertheless, she dropped her weapon and she and Beth ran towards each other.

The two embraced together in a tight hug, never feeling more relieved to be with each other after their father's death. They were the only members of the Greene family left now.

"Beth." Maggie whispered with her eyes closed. "I...I thought you were dead."

Whilst the two were hugging, Rick approached Glenn and could not help but ask the obvious. "What happened? I thought you were heading to Washington?"

Glenn just decided to come out with the truth. "Eugene lied, Rick."

Rick looked quite surprised to his answer. He turned back towards Maggie and Beth who were still embracing one another closely.

"What do we do now?" Glenn inquired. During his time with Rick, he looked up to him as a leader and could count on Rick to get them out of any situation.

Rick did not answer straight away. Instead, he turned around and looked up towards the sky with the buildings of Atlanta blocking the way. Truth be told, he had no idea what they were going to do now, but with Beth back into their group and in order to survive, they had to keep moving regardless of what happened next.

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><p><strong>And that's the end of this one-shot- folks. I honestly wished Beth had not tried to stab Dawn, whenever she knew she would die or not if unknown. Thanks for reading my story, this is technically my first Walking Dead story for the show since I usually write stories for the game. With that said and down, ciao.<strong>


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